Raise your hand if you think word of mouth advertising (aka word of mouth marketing) is what you should be striving for as an entrepreneur/business owner.

It certainly feels like the most perfect form of marketing, doesn’t it? Your ideal clients, customers, and buyers just flow to you, without your having to make any effort at all, because your current happy clients are busy sending you referrals.

Below are three keys to harnessing the power of word of mouth advertising (and a bonus tip!)

1. Get crystal clear on your ideal client. Okay, so this one doesn’t seem terribly helpful at first glance. How is getting clear on your ideal client going to help other ideal clients start flocking to you?

Well, here’s a little secret about ideal clients—these are the clients who LOVE you and LOVE working with you (just like you LOVE working with them). Because they love you so much, they’re happy to sing your praises to the world. These are the clients who will happily share you with all their friends and associates.

These ideal, perfect clients are at the heart of your word of mouth advertising plan.

Now, contrast that with clients who aren’t ideal. These are the clients you struggle to work with, who you dread getting on the phone with. They also typically take 80% of your time (versus the ideal clients who take 20%).

Trust me when I say the feeling is mutual. They know you’re not ideal for them, either. They’re not feeling the love.

So, they are most definitely not going to tell the world about you. (And, if they did tell someone, it likely would not be a glowing review, but something far more tepid.)

(If you want to learn more about finding/getting super clear on your ideal client, here’s a post you can check out. You can also grab a copy of my Love-Based Copywriting Method book for even more on ideal clients.)

Bonus Tip: If you REALLY want to supercharge your word of mouth advertising plan, look for ideal clients who are also influencers.

Influencers are folks who already have a big following, and who will be happy to tell that following all about you. If that happens, you can get a big business boost that may last months or even years.

2. Become a master at your expertise. Again, this may sound like less-than-helpful advice, but think about it.

For people to rave about their experience with you, they need to actually have an experience worth raving about. Right?

So, the more you’ve mastered your expertise, the more likely it is you’ll be able to provide that amazing experience.

Your reputation matters. Nurture it. Focus on it. If people hear good things about you, they’ll be far more likely to invest in you.

3. Ask for referrals. Despite what you might believe, word of mouth advertising is not passive. It’s very much something you can control.

Actively pursue it. The best way to do that? You create a plan-of-action around asking for referrals.

Maybe you have a policy in place where you immediately reply back to a glowing client email, thanking him or her and asking his permission to use the email as a testimonial. This is a great time to also ask for referrals. Maybe you send an email to your client list asking if they know anyone who would be a good fit for your services, and if so, to please provide those people with your contact info. Or maybe you take it one step further and create a contest around it—give a prize, like an Amazon gift card or free coaching, to whoever sends you the most referrals.

It’s also a great idea to reward all referrals. Give a gift card, or a referral check. And let people know you value and appreciate them for helping you reach more people.

Lastly, keep in mind that as powerful as word of mouth advertising is, it’s just one piece of an overall marketing plan. If you’d like help putting together a specific online marketing plan that’s unique to you and your business, you may want to check out my “Love-Based Online Marketing” book.

I get this question a lot. And it makes sense — getting clients is the lifeblood for all businesses. But how do you do it?

Of course, there are a ton of answers. But because you’re here, I suspect you’re looking for proven ways to get new ideal clients in a love-based way … using methods that feel good to you and the people you’re hoping to attract.

What, specifically, is bothering your ideal client? Does she want to make a big impact on this world? Is he searching for purpose? Is he tired of working double-full-time hours to make a part-time income? Is she exhausted from being in pain?

You must be able to dial in on their specific pain if you expect to be able to communicate how your product or service will help your ideal client.

• Know how your product or service solves this pain.

How, exactly, does your product or service solve your ideal client’s main problem? For example, does it give her a process or system to reach the people she wants to serve? Does it give him clarity about his purpose? Does it offer a method for boosting his income while working fewer hours? Is it a new solution to help her get out of pain?

Many heart-centered or spiritual entrepreneurs shy away from using pain in their marketing copy because it makes them feel “icky” or arm-twisty. But I’m a big proponent of using pain—respectfully—because it’s a great way to show your ideal prospects that you understand what they’re going through and that you can help them.

Of course, you don’t want to use fear-based emotions like shame or guilt when you’re mentioning their pain, and don’t use your copy to agitate their pain to the level of suffering!

Use your ideal clients’ language, not your own.

Don’t try to be cutesy when it comes to writing your copy. Instead, use the very same words and phrases your ideal clients would use. If you’re not sure what those words and phrases are, ask your ideal clients. Survey them, or ask them on your social networking channels or Internet groups.

The first step to knowing where your ideal clients hang out is to get to know them on a really deep level. Once you know, you need to ramp up your presence in those places … even if they aren’t your favorite places (because you are not necessarily your own ideal client). If your ideal clients don’t have the chance to get to know you, by hanging out with you, then you’re going to have a tough time convincing them to work with you.

When you meet your ideal clients, connect with them on a personal level. You may share your expertise or answer questions. Or, you may discuss your favorite books or TV shows, or your pets or hobbies. You may discuss your family life, your favorite city to visit, or your favorite foods. Letting people in on who you are is a huge element of the know, like, trust factor.

• Be accessible and visible, consistently.

It’s simple math: the more you’re “out and about,” whether it’s virtually or at networking events, the more opportunities you create to connect with your ideal clients. So whether you are going to networking events, hanging out online, or whatever you choose to do, be consistent about it.

• Follow up with the people who raised their hands and said they were interested in getting to know you or work with you.

Lack of follow-up is like leaving money on the table. Keep in mind that in today’s society, we’re all receiving countless messages every day. The volume is so great that many people don’t even hear these messages! So follow-up is key—again, it provides you with more opportunities to ensure your ideal prospects remember you, and remember why they were interested in the first place.

Whereas target markets and niches are based on external factors/demographics, ideal clients are based on internal factors like desires and fears.

Here’s my favorite illustration of this distinction:

A target market might be stay-at-home moms. A niche within that target market could be stay-at-home moms looking for a work-from-home opportunity.

And within that niche lies an ideal client.

For example, one stay-at-home mom may be looking for a work-from-home opportunity because she needs to contribute financially to her household. Her family needs two incomes to pay the bills.

Another stay-at-home mom may be looking for a work-from-home opportunity because she wants something of her own; she wants to use her professional skills, and she wants to develop an identity separate from that of a mother or wife.

Take a moment to think about the difference between the mindsets of those two women. Two completely different ideas are keeping them up at night.

In the first example, the mom is worried about paying the bills. And in the second, she wants to develop a new aspect of her identity.

So when it comes to messaging, your message to each of these women would be completely different.

People respond to specifics. So it’s important that your message address the specific worries or fears of your ideal client. The more specific you are in describing their unique situation, the more they’ll feel like you’re speaking directly to them; that you understand them. And the more they feel like you understand them, the more they’ll believe your offer will help them.

Now, if you aren’t sure what’s keeping your ideal client up at night, ask! Send out a survey or hang out where they hang out—Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.—and be a great listener.

Your Offer

Once you understand specifically what’s keeping your ideal client up at night, you can craft your offer so it’s clear you will solve his or her specific problem.

The best way to illustrate this is with an example.

One of my longtime clients, The Coaches Console, provides coaches with an all-inclusive software that streamlines and automates all the back-end elements of a coaching business: marketing, lead generation, client conversion, client enrollment and agreement, client support, scheduling, client notes … everything!

So what keeps their ideal clients up at night? They want to make a difference in the world. They’re passionate about coaching. But they find the business side of coaching overwhelming.

So The Coaches Console’s offer is their software—which solves their ideal client’s problem by taking all the guesswork and overwhelm out of the business side of coaching so that their ideal clients can focus on what they love best: coaching.

The Intersection: Your Compelling Message

So now you know what keeps your ideal client up at night. And you know what your offer is, and how you position it as a solution to what keeps your ideal client up at night.

It’s time to create your compelling message.

Let’s look at the three ideal client examples I’ve addressed in this post:

Stay-at-home moms who need to make money. These women are up at night because they need an income. So if you’re offering them a business opportunity, your compelling message would be: “I provide stay-at-home moms an opportunity to make a reliable income while still having time to take care of their families.”

Stay-at-home moms who want an identity separate from wife and/or mom. These women are up at night because they want to do something of their own. So if you’re offering them a business opportunity, your compelling message would be: “I provide stay-at-home moms an opportunity to have fun as entrepreneurs while still being there for their family members.”

Coaches who love coaching but are overwhelmed by the business details. These coaches are up at night because they want to focus on coaching and want to run a profitable business—but don’t necessarily have the business acumen to do so. So if you’re offering them a software to take care of all those business details, your compelling message would be: “We give coaches the tools they need to streamline and automate their businesses so they can focus on coaching.”

Your message, which happens at the intersection of Your Ideal Client and Your Offer, will be compelling once you make it clear that you will solve your ideal client’s specific problem.

If you are ready to start writing your compelling message, spend some time getting to know your ideal client and what keeps her up at night. Spend some time crafting your offer as the unique solution to that problem. And that, my friends, is where your compelling message is born.

The distinction is an important one, and that’s why I wanted to revisit the topic today.

First of all, let’s recap. What IS the difference between niche and ideal client?

A niche is a subsection of a target market. A target market is a broad demographic of people. To really dial in on what this means in terms of marketing, let’s look at the definition of demographic: “a particular sector of a population.”

Typically when we talk about demographics, we’re talking about external factors like age, career type, income, or location.

So if your target market was 35-year-old women looking for a business opportunity, then you’d dial in even deeper to find your niche; for example, your niche may be 35-year-old stay-at-home mothers looking for a business opportunity.

An ideal client takes the concept of a niche even deeper. The concept is based on internal factors, like values, desires, and hopes.

When we talk about an ideal client, we’re talking about a specific person, what motivates and inspires her, and what she truly wants at her core.

Right away, I can think of two distinct ideal client groups in this niche.

Ideal Client Group One: A woman who wants this business opportunity not because of money (she has a partner or another source of income that funds her family and her life), but because she feels like she’s losing herself in the roles of wife and mother. She feels guilty for thinking, “Is this all there is?” especially when her neighbor, a mom with a full-time job, tells her how lucky she is that she’s able to stay home with the kids. This ideal client needs flexibility and the option to work as many or as few hours as she wants. She is very clear that being a wife and a mother come first, and she wants the time to be able to cheer at soccer games and pick up dry cleaning without stressing about her business.

Ideal Client Group Two: A woman who has found herself in a position where she needs to be the breadwinner for the family. Money absolutely IS an issue, while flexibility and number of hours required aren’t.

Take a moment to think about the pain each ideal client is going through.

Ideal Client Group One: This mom feels like she’s lost herself. She wants to get in touch with herself again, to establish her own identity separate from that of being a wife and mother. She can afford not to work (although perhaps she may want to bring in some money for “extras,” like vacations or to beef up her children’s college tuition fund), and her priority will always be her wife and mom duties.

Ideal Client Group Two: This mom feels a tremendous amount of responsibility. She wants to make money, and would love a steady source of income she can count on to put food on the table. She’s willing to work as much as possible to take care of her family.

Now, if you were the owner of a company who could offer a business opportunity to each of these ideal clients, think about how differently you’d want to market to each one, presenting your business opportunity as the solution to her pain.

Ideal Client Group One: You would position your business opportunity as a way to do her own “thing,” to enjoy the rewards of being a business owner while still having the time and flexibility to be an attentive wife and mother.

Ideal Client Group Two: You would position your business opportunity as a way to make consistent money, starting right away, so she can put food on the table and pay the bills.

So now you understand why knowing the difference between ideal client and niche is so important!

But which one is better to grow your business?

I’m a big believer that the answer is ideal clients.

I don’t feel like niche markets or target markets go deep enough.

Let’s go back to our example. If you market to your niche—stay-at-home moms looking for a business opportunity—you may do okay. Your marketing may resonate with some of the stay-at-home moms out there, whatever their situations are.

But if you market to your ideal client—either the mom who wants to rediscover herself or the one who wants to support her family—then think about how much more strongly your message will resonate.

Every single piece of marketing you put out there will be that much more effective, right?

Now you may be thinking, but my company is great for both ideal clients in my niche! Why can’t I just target both?

To that, I say while yes, I’m sure you absolutely could fully support both, by trying to appeal to both with your messaging, all you’re doing is diluting your message for both groups.

Combining messages by mixing them together makes you look like a Jack of all trades—and a master of none. And, in the vast majority of cases, if they can afford it, people will prefer to work with a specialist over a generalist.

When you pick one ideal client group to focus on (also known as “picking a horse and riding it”) you’ll improve your results and your business will gain momentum—and you’ll be making a positive impact on precisely the people you’re meant to help!

Building a love-based business is a unique endeavor. It’s not like building just any business. When you’re consciously building a business into one you love, and that loves you back, there’s one really important thing to consider: in order to have a business you love, it’s essential to have clients you love (rather than just marketing to a general target market).

Those clients you love, the ones who love working with you and who sing your praises while you solve a problem they’ve struggled with, are your ideal clients.

Where a target market is a broad demographic, and a niche is a subsection of that demographic, an ideal client is a specific person … and you know exactly what keeps her up at night. You know what motivates her, what inspires her, and what she truly wants at her core.

As the owner of a love-based business, you have a genuine desire to provide a solution for the people who buy your product or service, right?

If you can’t communicate effectively with the people who you’d best serve, then they won’t buy … and you won’t have the opportunity to help them. Not only are you missing out on a sale, but they’re missing out on a potential transformation (likely one they very much desire).

So, that being said, here are three reasons it’s so important to define and understand your ideal client:

You See a Better Return on Investment When It Comes to Your Marketing Efforts.

Different people are motivated by different things, right? Even two members of the same target market or niche may be motivated by different things. For example, if you sell shoes and your niche market is girls ages 10-12, half of them may be motivated by shoes that look awesome and stylish, and the other half may be motivated by shoes that help them run fast. It seems pretty obvious that you’d market to each of these ideal clients differently … efforts to market to both of them at the same time will likely fall flat.

If you’re trying to sell to everyone, you’re probably getting pretty generic. The more generic you get, the less people will recognize their specific problem in your marketing materials. So when you dial in on your ideal clients’ pain points and the transformation you can help them experience, you position yourself as an expert or specialist, and your ideal clients recognize YOU as THE solution they’ve been looking for.

It’s MUCH Easier to Market to One Ideal Client Group Than to a Target Market or Niche Market.

The more people you try to market to, the more messages you need to squeeze into your marketing materials, which means if you’re not careful, it can get very confusing. Plus, you’ll likely end up spending even more time writing and creating your marketing messages than you really want to.

You’ll also have more than one place to market. In the above example, girls who want to run fast are probably hanging out in different groups than girls who want the trendiest shoes. So, to reach both groups, you’re going to have spend time and energy in both groups, which again increases the complexity and number of hours you’re spending on your marketing.

Now, in contrast, consider what it’s like to focus on ONE ideal client group. It’s so much easier to craft messages that speak directly to their soul. You’ll also be able to laser focus on the exact places they’re hanging out.

See why it’s easier AND a better return on your investment to market to one ideal client group?

Attracting Ideal Clients Makes Your Business More Profitable.

Even if you have a small group of ideal clients, you’ll actually attract more of them if your messaging is specific to their unique pain points, desires, and hopes. The more specific your messaging is, the more likely your ideal clients will recognize that you’re talking to them, that you understand them, and that you can solve their problems. Therefore, the more likely they’ll be to buy from YOU.

When you do land several ideal clients (rather than a wide range of client types), you’ll be working with folks who love you, and who YOU love. They become raving fans and tell their friends about you.

Meanwhile, your business resources—marketing, time, energy, and effort—are directed toward helping the clients who love you, rather than putting out fires related to less-than-ideal clients.

The less “ideal” a client is, the more of a challenge it becomes to work with him or her. Less-than-ideal clients are the ones who demand the most attention from you and/or your team, as you try (endlessly) to make them happy. They may also be more likely to ask for refunds, or worse, openly badmouth your business.

And, that doesn’t even cover your personal energy level — less-than-ideal clients are likely the ones you dread talking to, who make you shudder when the phone rings and you know it’s them, and who cause your total exhaustion.

I suspect you didn’t start a business because you want to be drained … and working with less-than-ideal clients will do precisely that.

Now, when your business is filled with ideal clients, you’re much more likely to be “filled up” when you work with them. You’ll love getting on the phone with them, and they’ll energize you. Everything will just flow.

And, don’t worry if you feel like your ideal client group is too small — in most cases, there are more than enough ideal clients to fill your business, and you can always “add” ideal client groups later if you really feel like it’s too narrow.

To sum it up, identifying and getting to know your ideal clients is a huge must! And because it’s so important, here’s a quick exercise to get you started.

Exercise

Take a moment to paint a mental picture of your ideal client. Spend some time with her. Really get to know her. This way, when you begin to write your marketing materials, you’ll have someone to whom to write them.

And get really detailed. Give her a name and a favorite coffee drink. What car does she drive? When she wakes up at three a.m., what’s on her mind? What is she worried about?